1. Technical Field
An explosive powder plug and method of using same is shown and, more particularly, an explosive powder plug that can be used in blasting holes having water in the bottom thereof so that dry blasting powder can be used in the blasting hole.
2. Background of the Invention
When digging into the earth's surface, hard objects such as rocks, ore, coal or other hard objects are encountered. A typical way of removing the hard object is to drill a series of boreholes (also called blasting holes) along a blast line, fill the borehole with blasting powder and blow the holes. Thereafter, the loose debris may either be removed or further processed as desired.
The problem is that many of the blasting holes drilled along the blast line may accumulate some water in the bottom thereof. The current trend in the blasting industry is if there is any water in the bottom of the blasting hole to use a wet blasting powder the entire length of the blasting hole. This is not cost efficient because wet blasting powder costs three to four times the amount of dry blasting powder.
The probability of water accumulating in the blasting hole is less in the more arid regions, but increases significantly as the rainfall for the area increases. In many blasting holes, there is only a small accumulation of water in the bottom thereof, yet wet blasting powder would be used for blowing the holes because of the water accumulation. This is especially true in mining, road construction and utility installations. Some practical way is needed so that dry powder can be used in a blasting hole that only has a small amount of water accumulated in the bottom thereof.